


From a Distance

by methaemoglobinemia (crimsonherbarium)



Category: Elite: Dangerous
Genre: Borrowed OCs, Drinking, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Outer Space, Rare Fandoms, Sparring, Stargazing, low gravity sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-25 19:50:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18581422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonherbarium/pseuds/methaemoglobinemia
Summary: Nate and his crew take a well-deserved break.





	From a Distance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mo1eculeMan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mo1eculeMan/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Elite: Trailblazers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11705640) by [Mo1eculeMan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mo1eculeMan/pseuds/Mo1eculeMan). 



“Keep your hands up!”

Nate tightened his stance as he and Krystal circled each other, keeping his arms in close to his body to shield himself. Krystal swung, and he blocked her punch with his forearm. 

“That’s more like it!” Krystal whistled through her teeth, shaking out her hand. “Damn, that steel hurts like hell.”

“It’s only fair,” Nate grunted between punches. “You’ve got a lot more fighting experience than I do.”

“That’s true— _good_ —but you cant brute force your way out of everything.” Krystal effortlessly side-stepped his return swing. “C’mon. Show me what you got.”

Fighting Krystal was _exhausting._ She was fast. Nate’s reflexes hadn’t caught up to hers yet. He wasn’t sure if they ever would. Sometimes there was a millisecond of delay between him instructing his prosthetic arm to do something and it actually complying, and she exploited that opportunity with no mercy. It took most of his concentration to compensate for the reduced gravity of the little moon they were currently parked on. Krystal didn’t seem to be bothered by the difference at all. She ducked, twisted, and spun as if the added stumbling block of magboots presented no issue for her.

As the training session wore on, the recycled air in the cargo hold began to feel unbearably stuffy. Beads of sweat ran down Nate’s forehead in rivulets. Grinning, Krystal jabbed at him and punched him square in the jaw. The blow knocked him off-balance; he stumbled back, rubbing at his face angrily, and swung his fist hard at her.

Krystal ducked under his arm, and his fist passed through empty air. She swept his legs out from under him with one practiced kick, and shoved him down toward the ground. Hard. The impact of his back on the metal struts and plating of the floor was enough to knock the air clean out of him. 

Krystal sat on his chest and crossed her legs. “I win,” she said with a grin as he fought to regain his breath.

“No shit,” Nate wheezed.

“I’ve told you a hundred times not to put your whole weight behind a punch. It throws you off balance. You stumble forward, and then your opponent can basically do anything they want to you.”

“Yeah, I got that impression.” Nate took a deep breath and sighed it out, staring up at the ceiling. 

“I think this is a good place to stop for the day. You’re too in your own head.” Krystal tapped him lightly on the forehead. “You let me make you angry. The second you do that, you’ve already lost.”

Nate roughly wiped a trickle of sweat out of his eye. Little droplets floated up into the air around his face. “I’ll bear that in mind.”

“Am I interrupting something?” The two looked up to see Steven leaning against the wall by the door with an inquisitive expression on his face.

“No. We were just wrapping up,” Krystal replied, standing and brushing off her uniform. 

“Well, if you’re finished competing to see who can get the worst concussion, maybe you should head up to the bridge. There’s something you might like to see.”

“Does it look like trouble?” Nate scrambled to his feet.

“Just dry yourselves off and come up. I’ll be at the helm.”

Nate raised an eyebrow at Krystal, who shrugged. The two of them hurried off to their respective quarters to clean up.

~~~~~~

“Alright, what’s the problem?” Nate said, still toweling his hair off as he stepped onto the bridge.

“All systems nominal,” Astra replied cheerily.

“No problem whatsoever, Captain,” Steven said with a grin on his face. “Just thought that since we’re going to be out here in the black for a while you might like to take in the sights.”

“What’s that?” Krystal asked, stepping into the cockpit and leaning on the back of the pilot’s chair. 

“A quasar. It’s a ways off, don’t worry.”

“It’s beautiful.” Krystal looked out at it, her eyes wide. Colorful clouds of gaseous elements and dust spread out in a wide accretion disk around its center. An apparent beam of light shot out from each end. 

“There’s a black hole at the center of that,” Steven said. “Hiding behind the light show.” 

“I’ve never seen one in person before.” Nate leaned closer to the window, trying to get a better angle. 

“Here.” Steven nudged Nate’s arm and handed him a mug full of amber liquid. 

Nate took it and sniffed it cautiously. The syrupy scent of brandy stung his nose. “Lavian?”

“Only the best for my friends. I’ve been saving it.” 

“Thanks.” Nate grinned and took a sip, savoring the liquor. It tasted like home. 

Steven passed another mug to Krystal. “Cheers, everybody. To the next disaster.”

“Hear hear,” Nate and Krystal said heartily. 

The three of them watched the quasar consuming its field of debris from a safe distance, letting themselves relax for one well-earned moment. Nate smiled to himself as he listened to Krystal regaling Steven with a dubious tale of another voyage she’d taken out of Solo Orbiter before she’d started working at the Weyland. This was home now, he realized. It felt good to have company on board. Even when they were bickering with each other or kicking his ass in a sparring match.

He grinned and looked out at the quasar. Whatever the coming weeks would bring, they were ready for it.

**Author's Note:**

> I recently started beta reading for Mo1's story, Elite: Trailblazers, and I adore his characters. I wanted to write a small piece with them because they deserve a little fluff every now and then. 
> 
> I apologize for any inconsistencies in the space-relevant parts. I'm not as knowledgeable about space stuff as he is.


End file.
